It is no secret that Islamic Republic Iran enjoys strategic
geopolitical position. It is located at the heart of the world’s oil production
center and the trade corridor connecting east and west. The country for more
than four decades has been enduring sanctions. To counter the US strategy of Maximum
Pressures, Iran has no option but to come up with new strategies for diversifying
its exports and trade routes. Goreh-Jask oil pipeline is one of these initiatives.
This pipeline is going to provide Iran with an alternative
route for the country’s crude oil exports that are currently carried out
through the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline will open a new gate for Iranian oil
to the Indian Ocean by transferring oil from Goreh in Bushehr Province to Jask
on the shores of Gulf of Oman. The pipeline project is nearing completion, as
per the schedule.
Implementation of the Goreh-Jask pipeline is also in line
with the country’s programs for the integrated development of Makran shores in
the southeast, which has been one of the major policies of the country
considering the significance of the trade with the South Asian countries.
According to the Managing Director of Iran's Petroleum
Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) Touraj Dehqani, Goreh-Jask pipeline
consists of 1,000 kilometers long 42-inch diameter acid-compatible pipes, five
pumping stations, two pigging stations and a metering station at the end of the
line.
“Offshore facilities also include wharves, support ports,
and related loading facilities and pipelines. Also, electrical systems and
storage facilities are under construction to be partly commissioned in the
first phase.”
Dehqani stated that the first phase of this project with a
capacity to transfer over 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day will be ready
for operation by the end of the current Iranian calendar year. The transfer
capacity of the pipeline can be increased up to 30 million barrels per day in
the second phase, he said.
Despite all the limitations created by the external factors
like the US sanctions, the decline of oil prices and the outbreak of the
coronavirus pandemic, the project has reached over 80 percent of physical
progress in less than two years, a very significant achievement for the
country’s oil industry.
Over 95 percent of the equipment, machinery, and technical
parts used in this project have been supplied by domestic companies, another
achievement for the country’s industrial sectors to overcome the hardships
imposed by the sanctions and turn them into opportunities for flourishing in
every aspect.
As one of the country’s most strategic project at the
moment, the first phase of the Goreh-Jask oil pipeline is expected to come on
stream by the end of this year and hopefully, Iran would need this new export
hub at the Indian Ocean to come back to the oil market with full force after
the US sanctions are lifted.
